LEST WE FORGET
Wing Commander Russell Darby WELLAND MID
Commanding Officer, No. 55 Squadron (RAF)
From Australia serving in the Royal Air Force
Service No: 37308 (RAF)
Born: Date, Location unavailable
Enlisted in the RAF: 1935
Unit: No. 55 Squadron (RAF), Aqir, Palestine
Awarded the Mentioned in Despatches (MID)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 55 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z9588), Eastern Mediterranean, 12 September 1941, Aged 29 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Arthur Alfred and M L Welland: husband of Helena Alison Welland of Hessle, Yorkshire
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Column 239, Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Remembered: Supplementary Panel 12, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Wing Commander Welland was an Australian Cadet trained for the RAF who embarked for the UK on 16 July 1935.
Blenheim Z9588 took off from Aqir at 0315 hours on an anti-submarine sweep from Beirut to 13 km east of the Suez Canal. A message was received at 0515 hours that the aircraft was on its return journey and then nothing further was heard.
The crew members of Z9588 were:
Flying Officer James Dodds (402014) (Observer)
Flight Sergeant James William Lucas (751653) (RAFVR) (Wireless Air Gunner)
Wing Commander Russell Darby Welland MID (37308) (RAF) (Pilot)
Major Ivor Kingsley Whittaker (VX24) (HQ 1 Australian Corps) (Australian Army)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veterans’ Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll: No Record
Gunby, David and Pelham Temple, Royal Air Force Bomber Losses in the Middle East and Mediterranean, Volume 1: 1939-1942, Midland Publishing Hinckley UK, 2006
Newton, Dennis A Few of the Few: Australians and the Battle of Britain, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT 2600, 1990
Bibliography:
Baker, N. (Nicola) More Than Little Heroes: Australian Army Air Liaison Officers in WWII, Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600, 1994